Tales of Love
by Lousy-David
Summary: Karol's still young, but he needs something more in his life. And of course, he chooses Yuri! Yuri-X-Karol. Rating it "T". Flames will be fed to Rita! Works better as a OneShot people! Sorry!


I don't own any of the Tales franchise.  
But I do like to borrow.~  
Curtain!

----------------------------

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being around the kid. He just felt a bit…uncomfortable.

Yuri Lowell leaned up against tree as he watched the overly energetic Karol dash around with his over sized hammer and practicing his Artes. This was Karol's self appointed training. He would usually trail off away from the cities to train whenever Rita made an appearance. However lately he had been asking Yuri to go with him.

"Man," the raven haired youth sighed as he watched Karol some more. "This kid's becoming a hassle…Then again this is my fault…If it weren't for that night."

Yuri closed his eyes and remembered just a few days prior. A storm had been brewing for nearly a week, and everyone knew it was going to ravage the countryside.  
It started just as the party made it to the Inn. Thunder clapped for nearly two hours before the first drop of rain fell. Most were happy about that. Except Karol, he had retreated to his room and pulled a pillow over his head to drown out the sound.

"Ahh!" The young boy screamed into his pillow as the thunder shook the Inn. He jumped again to a new noise, the door opening.

"Oh, hey Karol, I was wondering where you were." Yuri said stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

Karol sat up on his bed and flashed Yuri a weak smile. "You were? Oh, well I was just in here; you know…Rita was being…herself." The boy lied.

With a jet black eyebrow raised Yuri nodded towards the boy as he fidgeted in his bed. "Oh really, well I'm just going to wait here for a bit." Yuri sat on a stool watching the confused boy. Karol was hiding something, and Yuri wanted to know what.

Silence flooded the room until lightning flashed followed by the loudest clap of thunder that night. Karol stiffened and shook. He let out a whimper.

"Aha!" Yuri said pointing a pale finger to the boy. "You're afraid of thunderstorms!"

The boys head sunk as he nodded. "Don't tell anyone. Please?"

"Of course not. It'll be just between us, man to…almost man." Yuri said in his usual; aloof tone. "I'm going to head outside. Estelle likes this kind of weather and I need to get her inside before she gets sick."

Karol nodded before pulling the pillow back over his head. Yuri gave a faint smile to the hiding boy before going to find Estelle.

He left the inn and it took almost no time to spot Estelle. She was the only person wearing pink and dancing in the rain.

"Estelle, come on, you're going to get sick!" Yuri called out into the rain. The young pink-haired girl bounded over to him.

"Oh it's just that…Well even in the castle I could only watch the rain from inside." She said as Yuri walked her to the inn. She turned to him, "I know! Let's get some soup!"

They both nodded as they entered the inn. Rita and Raven were already lounging around the foyer.

"I'll go get Karol!" Estelle said moving towards the staircase.

"No!" Yuri accidentally shouted grabbing everyone's attention. "I…Uhh, talked to him earlier, he just wants to rest. Poor kid's all tuckered out."

"Well he's been gone forever! He should be rested by now." Rita said un-amused.

"Cut him a break, Rita, he's a lot younger than all of us." Raven said pulling the savage girl towards the eating area.

Estelle moved closer to Yuri and spoke in a quiet tone. "Is Karol alright?"

"Yeah, of course. He's Karol, when is he ever not right?" Yuri replied in a cool tone, trying to sound more like himself.

"He has been gone for awhile, Rita was right. It's not because he's afraid of thunderstorms, is it?" The girl asked in complete innocence.

Yuri was shocked. For a princess who had been locked away her whole life she was very good at figuring people out. "Don't tell anyone. Karol's get his pride…even if it is false. He'd be crushed if anyone found out."

"You mean if Rita found out." Estelle said with a laugh.

Yuri gave a blank stare. "It's important to him."

"I know, I won't tell anyone." The princess replied prettily. "I wonder why he tries so hard to act grown-up."

Yuri shrugged as they joined Raven and Rita.

Meanwhile Karol was still shielding his ears from the thunder, but his mind had gone somewhere else. He wanted to feel secure. He wanted safety. He wanted…Yuri.  
He turned his head and looked at the door.

"When are you coming back?" He asked in a whisper.

"What the hell!?" Rita screamed as Raven grabbed the last bread stick and dipped it into his soup. Yuri half grinned at the action.

Estelle tapped Yuri's arm. "You should take some soup to Karol. He's probably hungry, being holed up in that room all evening."

Yuri nodded as he gathered an empty bowl and filled it with soup. As he walked past Raven he grabbed the last breadstick and broke it in half tossing the bitten off end to the older man.

"Karma!" Rita taunted.

Yuri opened the door to Karol's room but this time the boy did not sit up. He set the soup on the stool he sat on earlier and made his way to the younger boy's bed.

"Karol?" He asked touching the boy's very thin shoulder. On contact Karol flipped over in his bed. His eyes were red and drowsy looking.

A tiny smile crossed the boy's tender lips. "You came back!"

"Y-yeah…" Yuri said confused. "I brought food too." He pulled the stool next to the bed and handed the bowl to Karol.

"Yum soup!" The boy said childishly. "And…half of a breadstick?"

"Sorry about that, Rita and Raven…" Yuri said with a smile.

"Oh." Karol said while eating quickly.

The food was gone in nearly no time flat. Karol fell onto his back with his hands on his stomach and a content grin on his face. The thunder boomed outside and the brunette jumped forward; he would have fallen too had his friend not caught him. Yuri held the boy up in one arm.

"Careful there." Yuri said helping the boy balance himself.

Karol shook with fear as he fell to his knees. Tears welled up in the boy's eyes. He sniffed.

"Hey, hey." Yuri said patting the boy's head. "Come on, let's get ready for bed."

Yuri removed his shirt and boots. Karol removed his bulky pants and shoes. The older boy couldn't help but notice the differences in their bodies. Height aside, Karol was much skinnier than most 12-year-old boys. His voice was still high pitched, and he still seemed to act younger than he was.

Karol began crossing the room to his bed when he jumped back and yelped in pain, holding his bare foot.

Yuri spun around, "What's wrong?"

"I got a splinter." Karol replied trying to pull it out.

"Alright, come here, sit on the bed." Yuri said motioning the young boy over.

Karol hopped on one foot to the bed and sat on the end. Yuri grabbed the boy's ankle and pulled him closer. He inspected the foot with the utmost care until he found the splinter.

"Ah, that's what you're screaming about?" Yuri asked pointing to the tiny splinter. Karol nodded, with his pouty lip out.

Yuri laughed and played along with the childishness. "Well don't you worry, I'll get it out."  
He applied pressure around the splinter. The piece of wood slowly pushed its way out from under the skin. Yuri grabbed the tip and pulled the rest out.

"There you go." The older boy said with a smile.

Karol's eyes sparkled as he looked at Yuri. "Thanks a lot! I'm going to bed now." The boy said jumping onto his bed.

"Hey Karol…Are you going to wear your handkerchief to bed too?" Yuri asked with a laugh.

Karol turned around nervously. "Y-yeah, I always sleep with it on."

Yuri shrugged it off. "Well alright." Both boys laid in their separate beds before Yuri killed the lights.

The storm picked back later that night and it was more violent this time. Karol was up at the first lightning strike.

"Yuri…Yuri!" The boy whispered hoping that his friend would wake up.

"Yeah? What is it?" The half-sleeping boy called back.

"The storm's back." Karol stated while beginning to shake.

"It's okay, Karol," Yuri reassured, "It's just a storm."

"B-but…I…I-I hate s-storms." The younger boy blubbered. "Can I…sleep in your bed tonight?" He asked, afraid of what Yuri's reaction would be.

The room fell silent for a few minutes.

"Sure." Yuri finally said. "Come on ove-"

He barely finished the sentence before the younger boy was in his bed. Both boys lay there while the storm raged on. Karol was shaking uncontrollably which caused the bed to shake as well. Yuri turned on his side and stretched his arm across the bed to the younger boy. His shaking stopped. He rubbed Karol's back trying to calm the boy down. The thunder clapped again and Karol's body tensed up. He rolled over in the bed so that his face was right up against Yuri's bare chest.

"H-hey." Yuri started. He then stopped himself. This boy wanted to be taken care of. He wanted someone to protect him. Yuri wrapped his free arm around the boy and began to rub his back again. In a matter of minutes Karol was asleep, breathing peacefully into Yuri's chest.  
Yuri shut his eyes and soon followed the younger boy into a deep sleep.

"Yuri!" a voice shouted brining the dark haired man back to reality. It was Karol.

"Oh sorry, I must have dozed off." Yuri said standing up as he and Karol began walking back into town.

"Didja have some good dreams?" Karol asked.

Yuri stopped and thought deeply for a moment. "Yes, I would say it was better than most."

"Well I hope you didn't sleep too much! It's almost night time!" The boy shouted happily.

And it was. Yuri had slept for quite some time. The two boys made it back to the inn to turn in for the night. Karol went on ahead of Yuri, into the inn.

Yuri leaned up against the inn thinking. He couldn't help but overhear the conversation taking place next to him.

"My, it's getting dark quickly." The woman said.

"Oh, tell me about it. I head another storm's gonna sweep through." The man replied.

Yuri looked to the sky, the clouds were darkening. He smiled inwardly.


End file.
